Challenging the Money-Happiness Myth

Can money truly buy happiness, or is it just a myth we've been led to believe? Join Michael Kane on Living Your Success 24-7 as we explore the nuanced relationship between wealth and joy, especially during the holiday season when spending surges. This episode challenges the conventional wisdom that more money leads to greater happiness by examining insights from a recent Empire survey, which reveals that 59% of Americans consider financial security crucial to their happiness. We'll also discuss personal stories and broader societal perspectives to uncover whether financial circumstances are as influential in determining happiness as they seem.

Reflect on the paradox of wealth as we consider the reality faced by some of the richest individuals—those who, despite their fortunes, have encountered despair. By sharing my own experiences growing up in a middle-class family, this episode invites you to rethink the simplistic equation of money equaling happiness. Explore the complexities of how financial security impacts our well-being and discover why having a hefty bank account might not be the ultimate answer to contentment. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation that promises to leave you reevaluating the true essence of happiness in today's world.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is Living your Success 24-7 with yours truly, michael Caine, in the house. Hope all of you are doing well. Whoa, thanksgiving is over. I know everyone doesn't celebrate that my listeners but in the United States we do, and Christmas is coming in four weeks, in four weeks, and so, whatever that means to you, it's, say, a challenging subject, okay. However, apropos to the holidays, and what do you do during the holidays you spend money. You spend money other days, but you spend more money during the holidays, right? So I have a question. I have a question for you Can money make you happy?

Speaker 1: 1:16

Yeah, I said it. Can money make you happy? Another way to say that can you buy? Can money buy happiness? Another way to say that can you buy? Can money buy happiness? And I'm addressing this to emphasize or to promote focus and the underlining issues outside of that question can money make you happy? How do you make money? Well, you work, so does working make you happy because you make money, or do you do it for the job or the experience?

Speaker 1: 1:55

Surveys have said in the past that it's not always about the money. But back to the question. First of all, what if you didn't have any Another question? So it's a simple yes or no question, isn't it? But the expectation response is yes, money can make me happy or no, money cannot make me happy. So I know that the question is a loaded question. Now the answer, more deeply involved, requires thoughtful consideration, for sure, because we can say well, if I have money I can just buy anything I want, and if I get to get anything I want, I'll naturally be happy. Are you About buying more stuff? Right, and some people. It's not just about buying stuff, it's about survival right. Survival right so.

Speaker 1: 3:06

But as you know, our lives are greatly impacted good or bad, that's right by the level of financial security we experience. So one could argue less financial security equals less happiness or joy. Greater financial security, based on this premise, will equal more happiness and joy. So will more happiness and joy. So does that mean rich or wealthy people are more happier than those less fortunate, let's say middle class to poor poverty? Is that so? Is it really fair? That and that simple to say? Unless you have XXX amount of money in a bank account, then your life sucks and you must be sad, depressed, given your lack of financial resources. Is that true? I would say not necessarily Now. That yes or no question isn't so simple anymore. Well, the answer isn't so simple, is it? Maybe the question is, but maybe the response isn't.

Speaker 1: 4:41

Let me move this discourse further. There are wealthy people, even billionaires, committing suicide. So, out of respect, I will not mention at least five names that immediately pop up in my come. To my mind, the named wealthy were very rich. They were very, very. That said, why did they kill themselves?

Speaker 1: 5:11

If money was so bountiful unlimited essentially, when you have a billion dollars, that well, that's pretty unlimited. Or 3, 400 million in my world, in most people's world, that's a lot of money. So perhaps money by itself this leads to something else here. So money by itself isn't the whole answer of what makes, of what makes people like you and me happy. Can a lot of money be a contributing factor in our overall well-being? I think so. I think so.

Speaker 1: 6:03

Well, according to an Empire study they're a financial planning company it says 59% of Americans believe financial security is crucial to happiness. Financial security is crucial to happiness. 59% of Americans believe in their survey, believe financial security is crucial to happiness. So without financial security, it appears, happiness is elusive. And again, I didn't grow up rich or wealthy, didn't grow up in poverty either, but challenged at times. Now, later in my life, I was considered poor, yeah, but we were like perhaps middle class, and I mean I don't know, we weren't poor, we weren't well off for sure, we were somewhere in that middle, that high, low, I guess, like most people, average. You want to call it enough. We had enough for survival, for sure didn't have abundance at all times, but we had enough, sufficient, and so um. So, for the most part, for the most part, a majority of people believe any surveys and polls and observations and interviews If they had more money, then the happiness would increase.

Speaker 1: 7:57

Then the happiness would increase. And let's say, for example, that you got a 10% raise. Well, that would mean you would be able to provide greater security, obviously have more money, thus be physically and emotionally in a good spot, in a better spot, an improved spot. So your overall health would improve because of the increased standard of living. Is that fair? Now, true, let's face it.

Speaker 1: 8:37

You go get gas in your car. You want to buy a house, rent a house, buy or lease a car. Go see a movie, buy something to eat at a restaurant, fast food, wherever your place is, go to the theater. What do they want? They want money. Every. It's a. You know what money is. It's a tool, a tool to be used, and we want and as many, and the more of it you have, the better off. You're able to do the things you want to do, do the things you enjoy or believe you would enjoy if you had the opportunity, if you had more money.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Now I don't. I've never met anyone that says, ah, hey, mike, uh, I want less money, I should get paid less money. Okay, maybe if you're making five thousand,000 an hour or something you know, maybe to be an argument, but still, if you earned it and there's someone willing to pay you for whatever they're asking you to do, hopefully it's legal, so be it. So, um, let's say, uh, let's flip the script. Uh, let's add another dimension to the loaded questions here. Um, um, most people would say being poor, lacking financial stability, is not a good thing and does not bring happiness. But let's say they are not ready to give up.

Speaker 1: 10:30

But many of these folks, like my family and other families I grew up with and know, even read about Complete strangers. Many deal with the cards. They're dealt with the best they can. They kept a positive outlook. How about, or this thing called hope. Right, with hope and taking the necessary actions I make a point of this it's okay to have hope and dream and have all these wishes and goals, but if you don't take the appropriate action, it ain't going to happen, folks. So with the hope, the prayers, the meditation, the dreaming, whatever you want to call it and taking the necessary actions, it could lead.

Speaker 1: 11:30

To what Financial well-being? To what Financial well-being? You've heard of many people that came out of nowhere poverty, nothing born with nothing. All of a sudden is it really all of a sudden? No, they put in work, they were blessed, and some people call it luck, I call it being prepared, whatever you want to call it. The phoenix rises and grew out of the ashes and they're well off. And most of these people weren't chasing money, they were just trying to improve themselves and be the best versions of themselves they could be.

Speaker 1: 12:07

On a personal note, my parents and grandparents and other family members were at some point, initially poor or at the poverty line, below middle class at best. So, however, through their hard work, their perseverance couldn't explain, couldn't say that word perseverance, okay. And blessings too, not to get religious on you. Their story didn't end in poverty or negativity or poorly. Their story it. It ended well, but it was a challenge. They had many battles and forces out there to bring them down. Keep them down. Things didn't go their way. It's not a story of riches and diamonds and gold bars overflowing your pockets. But they became comfortable. You know what comfortable is.

Speaker 1: 13:19

You can't necessarily buy a last minute ticket to, let's say, your favorite country, switzerland. It leave spain, france or whatever africa continent, african continent, south america, african continent, south America, central America, wherever you want to fly to. But they could go in, let's say, within six months, because they could earmark funds and save their money. Perhaps they can go even earlier than six months, three months Again. They didn't necessarily have the means to just pop in a plane or a train, drive wherever, take a ship at the last minute, but their earnings became optimistically hopeful to be able to plan a trip or to go anywhere or to buy a refrigerator, freezer or oven or something that they needed. They were able to do it. They had the budget for it, for repairs or replacements, but it didn't mean they weren't rich. Replacements but it didn't mean they weren't rich.

Speaker 1: 14:40

And so, at the minimum, I encourage you to shoot for being comfortable. I'm not saying you can't be a millionaire, you can't be a billionaire, I'm not saying that. But shoot right now for just being comfortable where, yes, a friend of yours call you, hey, let's go to the zoo. When this Saturday You're able to do it without pinching pennies or getting two or three, four jobs or borrowing money from the bank. Comfortable, where you could technically do about all most people want to do, and that's fine, that's fine, that's fine. And I know what it is to be bankrupt, foreclosed on and all that stuff. Oh yeah, it's bad sleeping on the garage floor in cold, cold winter. Don't want to do that again anyway.

Speaker 1: 15:35

So we all have stories to tell of our hardships and challenges when it comes to the tool of money. But keep in mind, we have to plan intentionally. By definition, planning is intentional. You have to shoot for it. You have to have goals, firmly written goals, and that meet and align with your values, so your story does not have to end on a bad note.

Speaker 1: 16:14

I'm not through yet on a personal level. I'm still climbing that mountain, but I'm closer to the tip of that mountain than the bottom of that mountain. Some days, some years, been better than others. But as long as you don't give up and you have hope you will. I can't tell you if you will, but I truly believe you will be victorious. And you know and again, I struggled on a few occasions where I thought I thought would I ever climb out of this financial mess or out of this? Will I have more money one day, you know? Will these be a brighter day for me? Yeah, I question that, you know. Should I just give up and just say forget it? See, folks, if you keep going, keep going, get back up, get knocked down, get back up, knock down, get backed up, get back up, get knocked down, get back up, knock down, get backed up, get back up, then there's hope. But have a plan to shoot for and not just be scattered, so you, too, can survive and thrive as long as you keep moving.

Speaker 1: 17:43

I say what are you doing? Just keep moving forward in a direction that is intentional and, yes, you will wake up with a sun shining on your life. So I encourage you to not lose hope. That it does mean you have to educate yourself, take workshops, community college or certificate programs or online courses that are nominally priced, and go to the library, rent some books out and study and read plan, and especially if you want to go beyond just a job and want to own your own business, there's classes you could take and videos SBA that's videos and entrepreneur magazines and books. Like, said, go to a central library, has all of this stuff, information, and the internet has a wealth a billion, trillion things on there that can show you how to start a business, and or you may have to learn new skills, definitely depending on what you want most likely, and so there's programs out there, and so in scholarships and grants, and sometimes they're just free, depending if you meet the income criteria, and so I encourage you to keep moving forward, and I also want to encourage you to buy my book Slaying your Dragons Living the Life you Always Wanted on Amazon.

Speaker 1: 19:32

You can buy that straight on the Amazon page, and please sign up for my newsletter Catalyst. The address is in my Apple or iHeart or Spotify or Amazon accounts. You'll see links there, and also my website, livingyoursuccesscom, and so it'll be linked there as well, and so please hit the notifications and reminders so you know when new episodes here are coming out and guess what. I appreciate each and every one of you, and even though I don't know you personally, I pray that your life is a life that you've always wanted and whatever struggles you're going through now, you will be victorious and you will defeat the enemy of defeat. And so, that said, I wish you the best in these holiday times, which I know could be stressful, especially if you're short on financial resources. But don't give up, folks, don't quit. You got a friend here. So anyway, that's it. This is Michael Caine, living your success 24-7. Until next time, my friends. Until next time.